Today was the first British Team Regional Meet of the year. Robin Sutton had agreed to come in and do some coaching. Being himslef one of Britain's top level competition climbers and sport climbers, his top tips are invaluable to our progression as climbers. Meeting here (Ratho) today was Angus Davidson, William Bosi, Eleanor Hopkins and Rachel Carr for the younger group and myself (Robbie Phillips), Natalie Berry, Jonathan Field and Paul Williamson. The younger group started their session with Robin at 13:00 whilst we did some climbing.
Climbing today was actually not too bad. I mainly climbed with John Inglis (one of the more dedicated to training climbers at ratho). I started off trying to finish of my project (Green 8a) which i'm convinced is more like 8a+. I then moved onto another project (White 7c) more like 8a, but where the final moves are the 8a and its probably only 7b+ up to there. I fell on the final move, an improvement from previous attempts last week.
As for Robins session, it was totally awesome! We started off learning about how to train power endurance by circuits and problem reps. We did one set of circuits (5 reps) and 2 sets of Problem reps (5 reps as well). The circuits are as long as we want them i.e. whatever length we need to be training. Mine was 35 moves and went up and down the 45 degree board. The circuit has to be easy enough so that you can repeat it at least four and a half times without falling (this is to get the maximum benefit).
After that, we went upstairs to the gym to learn about core training. In the session we covered a variety of different core exercises designed to improve all aspects of core. The exercises varied from strength-based (which hit the larger muscle groups) to more balance-based activities which hit smaller, deeper muscles - vital for a fully functioning, efficient core body strength.
Sunday
Today I was meant to be doing 4x4's, but thanks to some very selfish friends of mine who would rather go climbing at Glasgow Climbing Centre than belay me, I was forced to scavenge the Ratho arena for potential belay mates. After bouldering for half an hour I grabbed Iain Cropley and James MacCartan. Successful ticks during the day were the first ascent of the white 7c+/8a and a new high point on my green 8a - the last clip! Ian managed to successfully flash my white 7b up the justice wall on top rope as well, a pretty incredible ascent with literally no sign of struggle - less effort than the local wads i've seen expend on it
so altogether, a pretty good day
ROBZ OUT
Saturday, 13 February 2010
Monday, 8 February 2010
COACHING YOUNG TALENT
Hey everyone!
So... last Saturday I was coaching the young hot shots, Jamie Drummond, Abi Blunt and Andrew Barr (all tipped for top places in the up and coming YCS Rounds). This was my second session with them so far. I will be coaching them on an ongoing basis every 2 weeks, so they'll probably all be on-sighting 8a by the end of the year?
My first session with them (2 weeks previous) was an assessment of their abilities both technical and physical. It was very clear through the bouldering and route session I had with them what exactly where their weak points where. On a general sum up, It was quite obvious that all three lacked confidence. A big sign of this was there inability to push themselves on hard routes. I am certain that all three of them are capable of climbing a lot harder than they show. Over the years, i've seen many a climber give attempt after attempt at hard projects and boulders, and the only thing holding them back is confidence. Shouting "Take!" repeatedly every time you reach a hard move is not going to get you to the top of a climb, and in my own experience, the longer you continue with these habits of doubt and fear of failure, the harder it is going to be to succeed. You don't see Sharma shouting take at every hard move on his route? He is more likely to skip bolts until he gets to a jug! So that is one area I have decided to work with them on. At the end of Saturday session we did some fall practice on a particularly scary part of the old comp wall which I think has helped fight their fear of falling
Each of them had their own specific weaknesses as well. Jamie is amazing at big jumpy moves between positive holds, but he can't crimp or do hard static moves. Andrew is awesome at the crimping and staticness, but fails on the jumpy, open-handed wonder moves and finally Abi, she just needs to improve her confidence and build up her raw power a bit more and then she'll be flying!
So i've made them programs to follow (I hope they are sticking to them). The programs involve a lot on anaerobic training (Hard routes, on-sight and project) as well as a bit of bouldering (Anaerobic Power) and a lot of regeneration and mileage.
But it wasn't just coaching on saturday, I had fun too! I had a hard route session which i started by onsight first ascenting a new 7b+/c, moving onto falling of the final 2 clips of the green 8a. Then I moved on to attempt an onsight of another new 7c (white) which i think might be as hard as the green (maybe a little easier?), 7c+/8a??? But for sure these routes would all be 8a outside... easily... I finished the day doing 3 second locks on some circuits nat made me and I was goosed. Sunday I had my 4x4 endurance session and today I was up at 6:30 gyming it, after I had my campus session and after that I had another aerobic endurance/cardio session on the rowing machines!!!
Altogether a totally awesome weekend to begin a new totally awesome week!
Whats more... the mats are ratho are now fitted and the boulders are ready to be explored and climbed upon once again!!! WOOOOOOOOOOHHH!
So... last Saturday I was coaching the young hot shots, Jamie Drummond, Abi Blunt and Andrew Barr (all tipped for top places in the up and coming YCS Rounds). This was my second session with them so far. I will be coaching them on an ongoing basis every 2 weeks, so they'll probably all be on-sighting 8a by the end of the year?
My first session with them (2 weeks previous) was an assessment of their abilities both technical and physical. It was very clear through the bouldering and route session I had with them what exactly where their weak points where. On a general sum up, It was quite obvious that all three lacked confidence. A big sign of this was there inability to push themselves on hard routes. I am certain that all three of them are capable of climbing a lot harder than they show. Over the years, i've seen many a climber give attempt after attempt at hard projects and boulders, and the only thing holding them back is confidence. Shouting "Take!" repeatedly every time you reach a hard move is not going to get you to the top of a climb, and in my own experience, the longer you continue with these habits of doubt and fear of failure, the harder it is going to be to succeed. You don't see Sharma shouting take at every hard move on his route? He is more likely to skip bolts until he gets to a jug! So that is one area I have decided to work with them on. At the end of Saturday session we did some fall practice on a particularly scary part of the old comp wall which I think has helped fight their fear of falling
Each of them had their own specific weaknesses as well. Jamie is amazing at big jumpy moves between positive holds, but he can't crimp or do hard static moves. Andrew is awesome at the crimping and staticness, but fails on the jumpy, open-handed wonder moves and finally Abi, she just needs to improve her confidence and build up her raw power a bit more and then she'll be flying!
So i've made them programs to follow (I hope they are sticking to them). The programs involve a lot on anaerobic training (Hard routes, on-sight and project) as well as a bit of bouldering (Anaerobic Power) and a lot of regeneration and mileage.
But it wasn't just coaching on saturday, I had fun too! I had a hard route session which i started by onsight first ascenting a new 7b+/c, moving onto falling of the final 2 clips of the green 8a. Then I moved on to attempt an onsight of another new 7c (white) which i think might be as hard as the green (maybe a little easier?), 7c+/8a??? But for sure these routes would all be 8a outside... easily... I finished the day doing 3 second locks on some circuits nat made me and I was goosed. Sunday I had my 4x4 endurance session and today I was up at 6:30 gyming it, after I had my campus session and after that I had another aerobic endurance/cardio session on the rowing machines!!!
Altogether a totally awesome weekend to begin a new totally awesome week!
Whats more... the mats are ratho are now fitted and the boulders are ready to be explored and climbed upon once again!!! WOOOOOOOOOOHHH!
Monday, 1 February 2010
New Rowts + Training
Hey guys!
Sorry for not posting in a while, been mega busy with climbing! Since New Year, I've started my new periodized training cycle (written by Neil Mcgeachy and Martin Hopkins). It seems very complex when I talking about all the technical terms like anatomic adaptation and anabolic preparation and whatever... but really it is quite simple. Al it entails is moving from large volume:low intensity training to Low volume:High intensity training. I have finished phase 1, this was the high endurance based phase that took 4 weeks to do, and now I'm into the next phase, another 4 week block of laps, campusing, finger boarding, gym work and hard climbing!
At the beginning of the phase, I felt very weak endurance-wise, now I'm feeling a lot better. I seem to be able to lap 7b's without getting pumped which is a start and I made my first ascent of a new 8a at Ratho I set (Psyched!). My bouldering is doing OK at the moment (not brilliant, but OK). I've been having bouldering mileage days where i come in and do an hour of flash/2nd go problems i.e. V5-V7. And everything else has been pretty much endurance based. I feel good on routes right now e.g. I think if i was to go to Ceuse right now I would be on-sighting the 8a's, but I want to be stronger than that! 8c is a big thing for me and I don't think its too far off if I train hard! I might be going to Ceuse this summer so that might be my big break!
What else? I've been doing a bit of coaching as well. I have taken on three new apprentices, Abi Blunt, Jamie Drummond and Andrew Barr. Three awesome climbers and really cool kids. They all have very particular styles and very obvious strengths and weaknesses. All of them have a hard time taking falls and none of them have any belief in themselves... they need to get this sorted because they have so much talent and potential! Saturday is my next session with them and its then they will be receiving their new personalized programs.
Another guy i've been doing a bit of climbing with is Rory (new kid on the block). At 7 years old, he's by far the most determined climber I have ever seen and one of the most talented and promising young rockers I've ever had the pleasure to climb along side. Having climbed with him twice now, and seen him at Ratho almost every day for the past month, he never ceases to amaze me just how totally psyched and focussed he is to succeed! He can be found either in the Ratho cave or on the boulders rippin' up whatever comes his way! Right now his projects include the "whole" Grey 6c+/7a traverse (Boulder cave) and the Orange V1 (Boulders), so don't get in his way otherwise there will be trouble!
TRAIN HARD TO CLIMB STRONG
ROBZ
p.s. Also, set loads of new routes at ratho. Someone get the 2nd ascent of my grey and confirm the grade!!!
Sorry for not posting in a while, been mega busy with climbing! Since New Year, I've started my new periodized training cycle (written by Neil Mcgeachy and Martin Hopkins). It seems very complex when I talking about all the technical terms like anatomic adaptation and anabolic preparation and whatever... but really it is quite simple. Al it entails is moving from large volume:low intensity training to Low volume:High intensity training. I have finished phase 1, this was the high endurance based phase that took 4 weeks to do, and now I'm into the next phase, another 4 week block of laps, campusing, finger boarding, gym work and hard climbing!
At the beginning of the phase, I felt very weak endurance-wise, now I'm feeling a lot better. I seem to be able to lap 7b's without getting pumped which is a start and I made my first ascent of a new 8a at Ratho I set (Psyched!). My bouldering is doing OK at the moment (not brilliant, but OK). I've been having bouldering mileage days where i come in and do an hour of flash/2nd go problems i.e. V5-V7. And everything else has been pretty much endurance based. I feel good on routes right now e.g. I think if i was to go to Ceuse right now I would be on-sighting the 8a's, but I want to be stronger than that! 8c is a big thing for me and I don't think its too far off if I train hard! I might be going to Ceuse this summer so that might be my big break!
What else? I've been doing a bit of coaching as well. I have taken on three new apprentices, Abi Blunt, Jamie Drummond and Andrew Barr. Three awesome climbers and really cool kids. They all have very particular styles and very obvious strengths and weaknesses. All of them have a hard time taking falls and none of them have any belief in themselves... they need to get this sorted because they have so much talent and potential! Saturday is my next session with them and its then they will be receiving their new personalized programs.
Another guy i've been doing a bit of climbing with is Rory (new kid on the block). At 7 years old, he's by far the most determined climber I have ever seen and one of the most talented and promising young rockers I've ever had the pleasure to climb along side. Having climbed with him twice now, and seen him at Ratho almost every day for the past month, he never ceases to amaze me just how totally psyched and focussed he is to succeed! He can be found either in the Ratho cave or on the boulders rippin' up whatever comes his way! Right now his projects include the "whole" Grey 6c+/7a traverse (Boulder cave) and the Orange V1 (Boulders), so don't get in his way otherwise there will be trouble!
TRAIN HARD TO CLIMB STRONG
ROBZ
p.s. Also, set loads of new routes at ratho. Someone get the 2nd ascent of my grey and confirm the grade!!!
Sunday, 22 November 2009
Climbing A La Espanol!
Hey Everyone!!!
Been a wee while since I last posted but I have a good reason for that... I'M IN SPAIN!!! WOOOOOOOHHHH!!! I'm living the dream for 2 and a half weeks here in the land of overhanging orange limestone, tufas, stalactites and caves that only have 7c and harder routes, unless you want to climb a pile of choss that is...
So yeah... I am out here with my good friends Ali "Leven lad" Swinton, Neill "The Buzzard" Busby, Neil "Spiv-boy" Mcgeachy, Alan "Eats 8c for breakfast" Cassidy, Tom "Eats 9a for Breakfast" and Lynne "Has just started eating 8a's" Malcolm!!! Lynne, Tom and Alan live here, lucky bastards, the downside is they work full-time and have little time for climbing at all, and no training!!!
Right now I am sitting in the Teraddettes hotel cafe talking to Nat on SKYPE (The wonders of modern technology), checking out new tabs for Buz to play on the guitar and checking out the latest news on 8a.nu. Oh the joys of rest days... I have a massive flapper on my hand from pulling on the chipped, crux, two-finger pocket of the 8b "Gladiator" in Rodellar and it is very sore. The other day I got really close to doing my trip project "Rollito-Sharma" 8b+ and I was gutted to get this flapper, but I think it will work out fine if I tape it up good!
So yeah... I've been working an 8b+ since I got here... so far, i've had around 10 goes on it and I have been getting further and further on it everyday, the last go saw me reach my highest point, basically 3 moves from doing the crux complete and after that I don't think I will fall off!!! WOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH!!! This route has always been something I wanted to do. I first saw it on my first trip to Spain climbing. I was climbing with Tom, Lynne and my other friend Alex. Tom did it on his second try, an amazing sight to behold, and ever since then this route has been etched in my mind. It takes the line right in the centre of the Santa Linya cave and takes the most obvious, continuous break straight through until the central, half way break of the cave. To this point it is given 8c and to finish a few clips before is 8b+. The next stage of the journey would be to finish the route to the centre of the cave, and then again to further extend by climbing the remaining 30m to top out the cave, a likely grade at 9a+? My plan for next year is to climb 8c and consolidate climbing 8b's and 8b+'s redpoint and 8a's onsight so this route would be a likely candidate for my first 8c tick!!!
The trip has been great fun and very different to my usual trips. I usually focus on onsighting and doing lots of route whereas on this trip I mainly focussed on redpointing, something I am not that good at. I have come to realize now that redpointing hard routes is probably the single best thing you can do on a trip as it keeps you in good strength for harder onsights and also practices your mental strength (i.e. having to continuously deal with failure and getting sometimes no ticks for weeks at a time). On my first day here I onsighted a 7c+/8a called "Devora Hombres" (the same route Lynne redpointed last week) and i onsighted a couple of 7b+ and 7c in the Santa Linya cave too but apart from that I have only been doing Rollito and other 8b's in the cave. I tried "Santa Linya" 8b (the route, not the cave) and it felt really good too. I have had a few goes on it and fallen only at the crux move and I should be able to finish it after that. I also tried "Gladiator" 8b in Rodellar but as I said earlier I hurt my finger on it which would make doing the crux very painful indeed. I don't think Gladiator was very hard for me though even though I struggled on the crux move. I did it in two halves basically and the second half was pretty easy, if I had done the crux I definitely wouldn't have fallen off. Right now I am just happy to be out climbing with my friends and getting good progress on my project.
I will do Rollito and Santa Linya and those ticks will make an outstanding end to my trip.
My next big trip is Spain again in December/January! I am hoping to come out again with Nat and I'm psyched to see her tick some hard routes too. This trip will be either Santa Linya or Siurana. Both amazing crags and brilliant in the winter months!
Photos to come soon of this trip...
ROBZ OUT!!!
Been a wee while since I last posted but I have a good reason for that... I'M IN SPAIN!!! WOOOOOOOHHHH!!! I'm living the dream for 2 and a half weeks here in the land of overhanging orange limestone, tufas, stalactites and caves that only have 7c and harder routes, unless you want to climb a pile of choss that is...
So yeah... I am out here with my good friends Ali "Leven lad" Swinton, Neill "The Buzzard" Busby, Neil "Spiv-boy" Mcgeachy, Alan "Eats 8c for breakfast" Cassidy, Tom "Eats 9a for Breakfast" and Lynne "Has just started eating 8a's" Malcolm!!! Lynne, Tom and Alan live here, lucky bastards, the downside is they work full-time and have little time for climbing at all, and no training!!!
Right now I am sitting in the Teraddettes hotel cafe talking to Nat on SKYPE (The wonders of modern technology), checking out new tabs for Buz to play on the guitar and checking out the latest news on 8a.nu. Oh the joys of rest days... I have a massive flapper on my hand from pulling on the chipped, crux, two-finger pocket of the 8b "Gladiator" in Rodellar and it is very sore. The other day I got really close to doing my trip project "Rollito-Sharma" 8b+ and I was gutted to get this flapper, but I think it will work out fine if I tape it up good!
So yeah... I've been working an 8b+ since I got here... so far, i've had around 10 goes on it and I have been getting further and further on it everyday, the last go saw me reach my highest point, basically 3 moves from doing the crux complete and after that I don't think I will fall off!!! WOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH!!! This route has always been something I wanted to do. I first saw it on my first trip to Spain climbing. I was climbing with Tom, Lynne and my other friend Alex. Tom did it on his second try, an amazing sight to behold, and ever since then this route has been etched in my mind. It takes the line right in the centre of the Santa Linya cave and takes the most obvious, continuous break straight through until the central, half way break of the cave. To this point it is given 8c and to finish a few clips before is 8b+. The next stage of the journey would be to finish the route to the centre of the cave, and then again to further extend by climbing the remaining 30m to top out the cave, a likely grade at 9a+? My plan for next year is to climb 8c and consolidate climbing 8b's and 8b+'s redpoint and 8a's onsight so this route would be a likely candidate for my first 8c tick!!!
The trip has been great fun and very different to my usual trips. I usually focus on onsighting and doing lots of route whereas on this trip I mainly focussed on redpointing, something I am not that good at. I have come to realize now that redpointing hard routes is probably the single best thing you can do on a trip as it keeps you in good strength for harder onsights and also practices your mental strength (i.e. having to continuously deal with failure and getting sometimes no ticks for weeks at a time). On my first day here I onsighted a 7c+/8a called "Devora Hombres" (the same route Lynne redpointed last week) and i onsighted a couple of 7b+ and 7c in the Santa Linya cave too but apart from that I have only been doing Rollito and other 8b's in the cave. I tried "Santa Linya" 8b (the route, not the cave) and it felt really good too. I have had a few goes on it and fallen only at the crux move and I should be able to finish it after that. I also tried "Gladiator" 8b in Rodellar but as I said earlier I hurt my finger on it which would make doing the crux very painful indeed. I don't think Gladiator was very hard for me though even though I struggled on the crux move. I did it in two halves basically and the second half was pretty easy, if I had done the crux I definitely wouldn't have fallen off. Right now I am just happy to be out climbing with my friends and getting good progress on my project.
I will do Rollito and Santa Linya and those ticks will make an outstanding end to my trip.
My next big trip is Spain again in December/January! I am hoping to come out again with Nat and I'm psyched to see her tick some hard routes too. This trip will be either Santa Linya or Siurana. Both amazing crags and brilliant in the winter months!
Photos to come soon of this trip...
ROBZ OUT!!!
Saturday, 3 October 2009
Toolin' It Up!
So today was a rather interesting day, my first dry tooling experience at Avertical World Dundee, 1st round of the Scottish Dry Tooling Series. Actually, thats a lie... My first experience of dry tooling was around 4 years ago for 5 minutes with my mate James at a local quarry.
To be totally honest, I wasn't expecting much. Dry tooling has never really appealed to me as something I would like to do, just the thought of metal on rock, scraping and clumsiness, it just never sounded that good, quite the opposite I was to discover...
I attended the event with Jonathan Field (Fellow British Team Member, Edinburgh Based Ratho Climber and fellow Watsonian (Our School)). We got there for registration and got warmed up and ready for the start of the comp. As this was my first proper dry tooling experience, I had none of my own gear. I had borrowed axes from my mate Greg Boswell (Ratho Instructor) and gloves from Bill Davidson (big burly chap with camo, can't miss him). I had to hire both boots and glasses from Avertical World, so at the end of the day, after paying entry as well, i'd spent a lot of money for this event!
I was climbing with my good pal and regular climbing partner Ali Swinton. We both warmed up and soon got stuck into the climbs. There was a mixture of roped climbs and boulders, all well set and with some pretty crazy moves. Swinging logs and panels are just one of the amazing aspects of dry tooling comps that you rarely see at any other climbing event. At the beginning of the day, I was a wee bit sketchy, I was unsure of my axes and how solid they where on the holds. My feet where popping off a lot because of lack of body tension (being so used to technical climbing shoes), and my axes where skipping across the holds and slipping everywhere because of lack of tension on them. Remembering what Mike Tweedley told me the night before, just keep the tension on always. So thats what I did... Soon I found that I could hold even the tiniest edge with ease and fully lock off on it. I began to work my way through all the climbs with relative ease, Ali and I it turned out where making it harder for ourselves as we hadn't read the rules properly and where excluding carpeted holds (Holds with carpet backing) for feet, something you where actually allowed to do! Hahahahaahah... we are such idiots!
As the qualifiers drew to a close, Ali and I realized we had very little time left to complete all the climbs. In the end, Ali had to leave 3 routes unclimbed and I had to leave 2, just because we ran out of time. In my own opinion, I think it would have been better to allow more time for routes to be completed. As there where a lot of queues it was very difficult to be speedy between every climb. I've never been in a bouldering comp and run out of time, i've always had plenty to spare... A comp like this shouldn't be based on how fast you can get the routes done, it should be on the difficulty of the route and this can only be fairly judged with equal quality tries by everyone, not half-hearted raced tries. This is just a thought though for improving future comps...
Moving on, It turned out that even with not completing all the routes i still made the finals... not in 1st place though... 7 points out, but in finals, its a blank slate so its whoever gets highest on the final route who will win regardless of previous position! My chance!
The final route maneuvered its way firstly through a small roof and into the overhang of the back wall, up and into the main roof section at the highest point of the route. Through the roof you had 2 big logs to get by and then match the final log to win!
From isolation we could hear the cheers of the crowd, but all was unkown to what was actually happening. After Ali Robb went, it was a while before anything could be heard, I assumed he had reached the highest point and then I heard a great cheer and an OHHHHHHHHHH! I think he fell? But it must have been high up the wall as he had been climbing for what seemed like ages.
It was my turn up... The belayer collected me from isolation, and I took the walk to the wall. A good crowd awaited and greeted me avidly. I scoped the route and tied in, the start felt pretty easy, all good holds and no powerful moves. Pulling round the lip of the first roof I heard shouting "GO ON ROBBIE, YOU CAN DO IT", only one person... Bill Davidson... hahahahaha
I moved forward up the main overhang, managed to get the first of the clips in from a good hold with a deep lock. All the holds so far where good and no hard moves. As i crept up the wall, the holds got worse and the moves more spaced. Managing to get the next clip in with relative ease, I brought my axe up to a sloping green hold, placing it carefully on it, I heard a scream from the audience "GO ON, GO ON, KEEP GOING", my axe slipped, but i held the lock, placing it back on I pulled hard and reached the next hold, more screaming "GO ON! GO ON!". I realized then that I had to be winning, why would they all be so excited? I made it on to the roof and got a brilliant rest on the log. Shuffling upside down along the log (a sensation i'm not too unfamiliar with, having climbed on the new wall at ratho for the past year). I made it to the last log, I only had to match and clip... feeling pretty good, not even pumped, i stretch out for the log, but couldn't find the placing... it wasn't where i remembered it? I knew it was there, I grabbed the log with my axe and dragged it towards me, seeing the placing I prepared to axe it, it took me around a minute to get the solid placing, but once I had it, it was solid! Matching the log and clipping felt good, I topped the route and the crowd greeted me to the ground with great applause! I was pretty sure know one else had topped, and this kept me in good stead for the remaining climbers. The final two came out, talking to ali as they climbed, I found out that I was the only one to top it, and where everyone else had fallen was exactly where I had guessed, at the sloping green hold. The two remaining climbers fought valiantly, but fell short of the roof. The first guy fell just lower than the crux and Kev Kelly (The guy I was sure had to be related to either arnold schwarznegger or Sylvester Stallone; the latter being more likely) fell on the green sloper hold moving to the next one. I think it was a real shame as his axe just popped off the hold, i reckon he would have topped if that hadn't happened, shit happens though...
Anyway, I won £50 worth of marmot vouchers... fantastic... the event only cost me around £40 so i made £10 profit.... essentially?
I'd like to thank God, my mother and father for always being there, jesus for saving our souls and the queen for being so damn imporant! Oh yeah... and maybe like, some other guy who belayed me and stuff... cheers ali... "Your number 1... Yeah!!!"
To be totally honest, I wasn't expecting much. Dry tooling has never really appealed to me as something I would like to do, just the thought of metal on rock, scraping and clumsiness, it just never sounded that good, quite the opposite I was to discover...
I attended the event with Jonathan Field (Fellow British Team Member, Edinburgh Based Ratho Climber and fellow Watsonian (Our School)). We got there for registration and got warmed up and ready for the start of the comp. As this was my first proper dry tooling experience, I had none of my own gear. I had borrowed axes from my mate Greg Boswell (Ratho Instructor) and gloves from Bill Davidson (big burly chap with camo, can't miss him). I had to hire both boots and glasses from Avertical World, so at the end of the day, after paying entry as well, i'd spent a lot of money for this event!
I was climbing with my good pal and regular climbing partner Ali Swinton. We both warmed up and soon got stuck into the climbs. There was a mixture of roped climbs and boulders, all well set and with some pretty crazy moves. Swinging logs and panels are just one of the amazing aspects of dry tooling comps that you rarely see at any other climbing event. At the beginning of the day, I was a wee bit sketchy, I was unsure of my axes and how solid they where on the holds. My feet where popping off a lot because of lack of body tension (being so used to technical climbing shoes), and my axes where skipping across the holds and slipping everywhere because of lack of tension on them. Remembering what Mike Tweedley told me the night before, just keep the tension on always. So thats what I did... Soon I found that I could hold even the tiniest edge with ease and fully lock off on it. I began to work my way through all the climbs with relative ease, Ali and I it turned out where making it harder for ourselves as we hadn't read the rules properly and where excluding carpeted holds (Holds with carpet backing) for feet, something you where actually allowed to do! Hahahahaahah... we are such idiots!
As the qualifiers drew to a close, Ali and I realized we had very little time left to complete all the climbs. In the end, Ali had to leave 3 routes unclimbed and I had to leave 2, just because we ran out of time. In my own opinion, I think it would have been better to allow more time for routes to be completed. As there where a lot of queues it was very difficult to be speedy between every climb. I've never been in a bouldering comp and run out of time, i've always had plenty to spare... A comp like this shouldn't be based on how fast you can get the routes done, it should be on the difficulty of the route and this can only be fairly judged with equal quality tries by everyone, not half-hearted raced tries. This is just a thought though for improving future comps...
Moving on, It turned out that even with not completing all the routes i still made the finals... not in 1st place though... 7 points out, but in finals, its a blank slate so its whoever gets highest on the final route who will win regardless of previous position! My chance!
The final route maneuvered its way firstly through a small roof and into the overhang of the back wall, up and into the main roof section at the highest point of the route. Through the roof you had 2 big logs to get by and then match the final log to win!
From isolation we could hear the cheers of the crowd, but all was unkown to what was actually happening. After Ali Robb went, it was a while before anything could be heard, I assumed he had reached the highest point and then I heard a great cheer and an OHHHHHHHHHH! I think he fell? But it must have been high up the wall as he had been climbing for what seemed like ages.
It was my turn up... The belayer collected me from isolation, and I took the walk to the wall. A good crowd awaited and greeted me avidly. I scoped the route and tied in, the start felt pretty easy, all good holds and no powerful moves. Pulling round the lip of the first roof I heard shouting "GO ON ROBBIE, YOU CAN DO IT", only one person... Bill Davidson... hahahahaha
I moved forward up the main overhang, managed to get the first of the clips in from a good hold with a deep lock. All the holds so far where good and no hard moves. As i crept up the wall, the holds got worse and the moves more spaced. Managing to get the next clip in with relative ease, I brought my axe up to a sloping green hold, placing it carefully on it, I heard a scream from the audience "GO ON, GO ON, KEEP GOING", my axe slipped, but i held the lock, placing it back on I pulled hard and reached the next hold, more screaming "GO ON! GO ON!". I realized then that I had to be winning, why would they all be so excited? I made it on to the roof and got a brilliant rest on the log. Shuffling upside down along the log (a sensation i'm not too unfamiliar with, having climbed on the new wall at ratho for the past year). I made it to the last log, I only had to match and clip... feeling pretty good, not even pumped, i stretch out for the log, but couldn't find the placing... it wasn't where i remembered it? I knew it was there, I grabbed the log with my axe and dragged it towards me, seeing the placing I prepared to axe it, it took me around a minute to get the solid placing, but once I had it, it was solid! Matching the log and clipping felt good, I topped the route and the crowd greeted me to the ground with great applause! I was pretty sure know one else had topped, and this kept me in good stead for the remaining climbers. The final two came out, talking to ali as they climbed, I found out that I was the only one to top it, and where everyone else had fallen was exactly where I had guessed, at the sloping green hold. The two remaining climbers fought valiantly, but fell short of the roof. The first guy fell just lower than the crux and Kev Kelly (The guy I was sure had to be related to either arnold schwarznegger or Sylvester Stallone; the latter being more likely) fell on the green sloper hold moving to the next one. I think it was a real shame as his axe just popped off the hold, i reckon he would have topped if that hadn't happened, shit happens though...
Anyway, I won £50 worth of marmot vouchers... fantastic... the event only cost me around £40 so i made £10 profit.... essentially?
I'd like to thank God, my mother and father for always being there, jesus for saving our souls and the queen for being so damn imporant! Oh yeah... and maybe like, some other guy who belayed me and stuff... cheers ali... "Your number 1... Yeah!!!"
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Munchen Housen - EYS
Yo Guys
I have just returned from yet another trip with the British Team. This time we where away in Munich (Munchen to the Germans). We where competing in another round of the European Youth Series at the wall there http://verbundklettern.de/
It was a pretty amazing wall. There was three sections that were outstanding, massive overhanging towers with roofs and steep angled boards to as much as 60 degrees when not a roof. The routes where set brilliantly as well. The head route-setter i believe was Christian Bindhammer the famous German climber (he's climbed 9a+!). All the team climbed well and we all had a really fun time. At the end of the day, these events are an enjoyable experience and we are not only heading out there to beat other comp climbers, we are going out there to meet up with friends and have a good time climbing, just the same as if we where going to the crags.
I headed out to Munich with Ross "The Human Stick" Kirkland
and Jonathan "Outstanding in his" Field... hahahaha, man i'm soooo funny! We left from Edinburgh but unfortunately our plane was delayed by a meager 4 hours, so we spent this precious time playing games on me and Jonny's ipods and watching Dragonball The Movie on mine (Such a good movie - Only me and Ross could really appreciate it for what a movie-making success this film actually is). Anyway, we left for Stanstead and spent the night in the holiday Inn down there with Natalie "Blue" Berry and Jonathan "Christmas" Stocking. Your probably wondering why i'm writing these stupid middle name things... Just go with it!
Anyhoo, the next day we met up with the rest of the team in Stanstead airport. This comprised of:
Lukas "Justice Chilli Con Carne" Tilley
Suzie "Dances with kebab chefs" Zitter
"Hello" Kitty Wallace (That one got you didnt it, the speech marks are at the front!)
And also including the two chaperons:
Tony Powell (team manager)
Lorraine Stocking... (Jonny's mum)(Area Youth Coordinator for scotland south i think too?)
After a long and arduous journey, we reached Munich and finally the Holiday Inn which was where we were staying. Funnily enough, the hotel was really nice, too expensive to have breakfast in though, but it had a pool, steam room and sauna!
The next day was the comp, so after a good nights sleep we headed out to the wall. The wall was packed to breaking point, Its amazing that you can fit so many people into one small space. I met up with lots of old friends and even made a few new ones.
The Team Mascott... MULE!!!
Anyway, all the routes where totally crazy, scrambling through the steepest sections of the wall and winding around like snakes. My first route was outside on one of the less steep angled boards but still easily around 30 degrees sustained. The route was around 8a and only a few guys topped it, many got close but the last moves where hard. I feel I cold have performed much better on this route if I hadn't struggled to clip one of the quick-draws. I faffed around on that clip for easily 15 or so seconds, much longer than you want. I got around 6 moves further and was boxed, I came to a large move to a screw-on hold on a volume and slapped it. It was a sweet route and I wish I could have gone back and done it later.
My second route was a long and very sustainly steep route. It was easily 8b, nobody topped it, really only one person got close to the top but even he looked totally destroyed when he got there and there was still hard moves to go. Andreas Bindhammer (Christian's Brother) demonstrated the route and totally pissed it. BEAST!!! I didn't do too well on this route, I fell of quite low because i moved too dynamically for a small pinch which I should have just statically locked.
In the end I wasn't good enough to beat the majority of these Euro wads, but thats what competition is all about and being beaten by them isn't a bad thing, its a good thing really. Every time I get beaten by these guys it motivates me to go home and train harder and improve myself for the next time. Its the same when you get burnt of a hard route outside, its refreshing that you can challenge yourself and get beaten and maybe next time, after learning more from being defeated, you can succeed!
The rest of the team did really well! Jonny Stocking came 11th, missing out on finals only by a hold and a very debatable appeal by the French team which is why he never got in.
Natalie Berry got 12th place and climbed phenomenally well as standard. Kitty Wallace once again missed finals by nothing more than a point or so, she is not done yet though, we've not seen the last of this young climber... The tank that is known as Suzie Zitter came a very nice 30th place in no doubt one of the hardest categories, I've seen this girl climb and theres no way she climbed to her full potential on that day, the future is bright for this one. For Jonathan Field and Ross Kirkland it was there first EYS and I can't say that that I'm not impressed by their performances. This was their first international and they took it very well, better than my first and the way these two are climbing right now, the future of scottish climbing is going to be seeing a lot in the next few years I can tell you that!
This weekend is the Edinburgh round of the European Cup, show your support for them by coming to watch the event. Its being held at EICA: Ratho on Saturday (qualifiers) and Sunday (Finals).
The routes will be left up so you guys can test yourself against the best youth climbers in Europe (all of them world class).
I have just returned from yet another trip with the British Team. This time we where away in Munich (Munchen to the Germans). We where competing in another round of the European Youth Series at the wall there http://verbundklettern.de/
It was a pretty amazing wall. There was three sections that were outstanding, massive overhanging towers with roofs and steep angled boards to as much as 60 degrees when not a roof. The routes where set brilliantly as well. The head route-setter i believe was Christian Bindhammer the famous German climber (he's climbed 9a+!). All the team climbed well and we all had a really fun time. At the end of the day, these events are an enjoyable experience and we are not only heading out there to beat other comp climbers, we are going out there to meet up with friends and have a good time climbing, just the same as if we where going to the crags.
I headed out to Munich with Ross "The Human Stick" Kirkland
and Jonathan "Outstanding in his" Field... hahahaha, man i'm soooo funny! We left from Edinburgh but unfortunately our plane was delayed by a meager 4 hours, so we spent this precious time playing games on me and Jonny's ipods and watching Dragonball The Movie on mine (Such a good movie - Only me and Ross could really appreciate it for what a movie-making success this film actually is). Anyway, we left for Stanstead and spent the night in the holiday Inn down there with Natalie "Blue" Berry and Jonathan "Christmas" Stocking. Your probably wondering why i'm writing these stupid middle name things... Just go with it!
Anyhoo, the next day we met up with the rest of the team in Stanstead airport. This comprised of:
Lukas "Justice Chilli Con Carne" Tilley
Suzie "Dances with kebab chefs" Zitter
"Hello" Kitty Wallace (That one got you didnt it, the speech marks are at the front!)
And also including the two chaperons:
Tony Powell (team manager)
Lorraine Stocking... (Jonny's mum)(Area Youth Coordinator for scotland south i think too?)
After a long and arduous journey, we reached Munich and finally the Holiday Inn which was where we were staying. Funnily enough, the hotel was really nice, too expensive to have breakfast in though, but it had a pool, steam room and sauna!
The next day was the comp, so after a good nights sleep we headed out to the wall. The wall was packed to breaking point, Its amazing that you can fit so many people into one small space. I met up with lots of old friends and even made a few new ones.
The Team Mascott... MULE!!!
Anyway, all the routes where totally crazy, scrambling through the steepest sections of the wall and winding around like snakes. My first route was outside on one of the less steep angled boards but still easily around 30 degrees sustained. The route was around 8a and only a few guys topped it, many got close but the last moves where hard. I feel I cold have performed much better on this route if I hadn't struggled to clip one of the quick-draws. I faffed around on that clip for easily 15 or so seconds, much longer than you want. I got around 6 moves further and was boxed, I came to a large move to a screw-on hold on a volume and slapped it. It was a sweet route and I wish I could have gone back and done it later.
My second route was a long and very sustainly steep route. It was easily 8b, nobody topped it, really only one person got close to the top but even he looked totally destroyed when he got there and there was still hard moves to go. Andreas Bindhammer (Christian's Brother) demonstrated the route and totally pissed it. BEAST!!! I didn't do too well on this route, I fell of quite low because i moved too dynamically for a small pinch which I should have just statically locked.
In the end I wasn't good enough to beat the majority of these Euro wads, but thats what competition is all about and being beaten by them isn't a bad thing, its a good thing really. Every time I get beaten by these guys it motivates me to go home and train harder and improve myself for the next time. Its the same when you get burnt of a hard route outside, its refreshing that you can challenge yourself and get beaten and maybe next time, after learning more from being defeated, you can succeed!
The rest of the team did really well! Jonny Stocking came 11th, missing out on finals only by a hold and a very debatable appeal by the French team which is why he never got in.
Natalie Berry got 12th place and climbed phenomenally well as standard. Kitty Wallace once again missed finals by nothing more than a point or so, she is not done yet though, we've not seen the last of this young climber... The tank that is known as Suzie Zitter came a very nice 30th place in no doubt one of the hardest categories, I've seen this girl climb and theres no way she climbed to her full potential on that day, the future is bright for this one. For Jonathan Field and Ross Kirkland it was there first EYS and I can't say that that I'm not impressed by their performances. This was their first international and they took it very well, better than my first and the way these two are climbing right now, the future of scottish climbing is going to be seeing a lot in the next few years I can tell you that!This weekend is the Edinburgh round of the European Cup, show your support for them by coming to watch the event. Its being held at EICA: Ratho on Saturday (qualifiers) and Sunday (Finals).
The routes will be left up so you guys can test yourself against the best youth climbers in Europe (all of them world class).
Sunday, 6 September 2009
Board Wars: Return of the Climber
Hey everyone!
Not posted in a couple of weeks as i've been totally mobbed with everything at the moment. I retured a week ago from the Youth World Championships in Valence, France. I was competing along with fellow team mates:
Paul Williamson (Weegie-Scottish)
Jonny Stocking (Outside-Weegie-Scottish)
Nathalie Berry ("might as well be" Scottish)
Ed Hamer (Crimp Master)
Luke Tilley (Poy Champ)
Kitty Wallace (Beast!)
Suzzie Zitter (Dances with kebab chefs)
Beckie Hall (Doesn't like take off's)
Shauna Coxsey (All-round Beast)
Michaela Tracy (injured)
So that was the team. Despite being Britains strongest youth climbers, a great bunch of guys and girls! No doubt, they are the future of hard climbing in britain.
Now, the competition was great fun. Despite not such great results, we all had an amazing time. I did pretty poorly, no where even close to my usual standards. I fell 3/4 way onsighting the first route whcih was only 7c (disapointing). Falling off not dude to pump but my foot popping on a feature! I didnt let it dampen my spirits though, i headed onto the next route with a lot of psyche to improve upn my earlier place, good news is, I did. Bad news, it was only a couple of places and my foot popped again early on the route when i wasn't even remotely pumped. Gutted!!! I blame this to my poor ability to cope with nerves and therby causing a lack of focus on body tension ergo the foot popping...
However, the rest of the team didnt do all that bad, Paul came similarly placed to me but in a lower category, feeling that he definitely didnt perform to his usual standards. Kitty missed out on the semi's only just, a real shame as shes usually a contendor for podium places, but 4 more years in youth categories is enough time to get it back (man i wish i had that time left!). Shauna bested it into the semis but unfortunately missed out on the finals only just. Our adopted Scot, Nat, cruised her way into the semis as usual but, uncharacteristically, missed finals. Jonny as usual cruised qualifiers into semis but (definitely unusually) fluffed up the vertical start of his semi and didnt make finals. Both suze and Beckie missed out on semis too but made valiant attempts on their respective qualifiers, becky missing out due to being timed out on her route, GUTTING!
Irrespective of the outcome, we all had a totally awesome time! We made tonnes of friends (I certainly did) and we got to see all our old friends from around the world. After semis, we watched the finals, which was a truly amazing show, the most impressive of which was watching Adam Ondra dominate the Youth A category by topping out the route about 20 holds and a further 2 cruxes past the last climber who fell, MENTAL!
The next day we headed to the speed wall while we waited to leave for home. The speed comp was really exciting (funnily enough, unexpected by me) and it gave us a lot of time to chill out and relax in the sun. I went on a tour of the city with the NZ team of whom I became friends. Something I have learned is, people south of the equator seem to have a much more laid back and relaxed attitude, something to do with gravity me thinks?
Anyway, I had a great time, but right now, i'm getting ready for the next two weeks! I have a european in Munich on Saturday and another in Edinburgh the following Saturday! Crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Excuse my exclamation marks please)
We just had a training weekend with the team for some preparation. It took the form of a competition with isolation and everything. Two qualifiers on Saturday followed by an early final on sunday (before work). I topped both qualifiers onsight 7b+ and 7c+ and the final i fell on the last move which was about 7c+ as well. The routes are still up so you can go and try them if your keen? It was really good to see everyone again, but i must say i was so impressed with just how seriously the younger of the team took it. They all took the comp super seriously and did their best to listen to what the coaches had to offer in terms of advice and they applied it really well to the competition situation they where put under.
Anyway, Wednesday i'm heading off to Munich with the team. I'm going down with Ross Kirkland and Jonny Field to Stanstead where we will meet the rest of the team. before that i'm going to route it tomorrow with Ali Swinton at ratho and crush Dunkeld on Tuesday with Mhairi Thorburn and Adam Hughes, if they let me i might go for the Dunkeld Challenge (all routes in a day), but i doubt they'd be up for a second sesh at myopics.
Later everyone!
Wish us luck in Munich!
Not posted in a couple of weeks as i've been totally mobbed with everything at the moment. I retured a week ago from the Youth World Championships in Valence, France. I was competing along with fellow team mates:
Paul Williamson (Weegie-Scottish)
Jonny Stocking (Outside-Weegie-Scottish)
Nathalie Berry ("might as well be" Scottish)
Ed Hamer (Crimp Master)
Luke Tilley (Poy Champ)
Kitty Wallace (Beast!)
Suzzie Zitter (Dances with kebab chefs)
Beckie Hall (Doesn't like take off's)
Shauna Coxsey (All-round Beast)
Michaela Tracy (injured)
So that was the team. Despite being Britains strongest youth climbers, a great bunch of guys and girls! No doubt, they are the future of hard climbing in britain.
Now, the competition was great fun. Despite not such great results, we all had an amazing time. I did pretty poorly, no where even close to my usual standards. I fell 3/4 way onsighting the first route whcih was only 7c (disapointing). Falling off not dude to pump but my foot popping on a feature! I didnt let it dampen my spirits though, i headed onto the next route with a lot of psyche to improve upn my earlier place, good news is, I did. Bad news, it was only a couple of places and my foot popped again early on the route when i wasn't even remotely pumped. Gutted!!! I blame this to my poor ability to cope with nerves and therby causing a lack of focus on body tension ergo the foot popping...
However, the rest of the team didnt do all that bad, Paul came similarly placed to me but in a lower category, feeling that he definitely didnt perform to his usual standards. Kitty missed out on the semi's only just, a real shame as shes usually a contendor for podium places, but 4 more years in youth categories is enough time to get it back (man i wish i had that time left!). Shauna bested it into the semis but unfortunately missed out on the finals only just. Our adopted Scot, Nat, cruised her way into the semis as usual but, uncharacteristically, missed finals. Jonny as usual cruised qualifiers into semis but (definitely unusually) fluffed up the vertical start of his semi and didnt make finals. Both suze and Beckie missed out on semis too but made valiant attempts on their respective qualifiers, becky missing out due to being timed out on her route, GUTTING!
Irrespective of the outcome, we all had a totally awesome time! We made tonnes of friends (I certainly did) and we got to see all our old friends from around the world. After semis, we watched the finals, which was a truly amazing show, the most impressive of which was watching Adam Ondra dominate the Youth A category by topping out the route about 20 holds and a further 2 cruxes past the last climber who fell, MENTAL!
The next day we headed to the speed wall while we waited to leave for home. The speed comp was really exciting (funnily enough, unexpected by me) and it gave us a lot of time to chill out and relax in the sun. I went on a tour of the city with the NZ team of whom I became friends. Something I have learned is, people south of the equator seem to have a much more laid back and relaxed attitude, something to do with gravity me thinks?
Anyway, I had a great time, but right now, i'm getting ready for the next two weeks! I have a european in Munich on Saturday and another in Edinburgh the following Saturday! Crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Excuse my exclamation marks please)
We just had a training weekend with the team for some preparation. It took the form of a competition with isolation and everything. Two qualifiers on Saturday followed by an early final on sunday (before work). I topped both qualifiers onsight 7b+ and 7c+ and the final i fell on the last move which was about 7c+ as well. The routes are still up so you can go and try them if your keen? It was really good to see everyone again, but i must say i was so impressed with just how seriously the younger of the team took it. They all took the comp super seriously and did their best to listen to what the coaches had to offer in terms of advice and they applied it really well to the competition situation they where put under.
Anyway, Wednesday i'm heading off to Munich with the team. I'm going down with Ross Kirkland and Jonny Field to Stanstead where we will meet the rest of the team. before that i'm going to route it tomorrow with Ali Swinton at ratho and crush Dunkeld on Tuesday with Mhairi Thorburn and Adam Hughes, if they let me i might go for the Dunkeld Challenge (all routes in a day), but i doubt they'd be up for a second sesh at myopics.
Later everyone!
Wish us luck in Munich!
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